1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bird feeders and, more particularly, to a novel bird feeder that shelters the bird food from rain and snow, keeps the food from being blown away by wind, prevents the food from being pulled off the feeder, and is especially useful when the food is in the form of a doughnut or the like.
2. Background Art
Bird feeders are well known and comprise a myriad of forms. In its simplest form, a bird feeder may be a raised horizontal surface on which food is placed. In a more advanced form, a roof may be provided over the horizontal surface. In other cases, especially when loose seed is the food, the food may be placed in a vertical cylinder having an opening at the bottom for the seed to exit.
While each of the known bird feeders is satisfactory in one or more respects, many suffer from the disadvantage that the food is not adequately protected from rain and snow. Additionally, most suffer from the disadvantage that the food may be blown away by wind. The latter disadvantage is true even with the cylindrical type of bird feeder, as the seed can be blown away after it exits the cylinder. In most cases when feeding a rather large item, such as a doughnut or the like, there is the likelihood that a bird will pull the item from the feeder so that it drops to the ground where birds continue to consume it. This is extremely undesirable, since the principal reason for having an elevated bird feeder is to keep the birds away from ground-based predators. None of the known bird feeders is especially adapted for feeding birds such items as doughnuts, some of the feeders, such as the cylindrical type, being unsuitable for handling a doughnut, or the feeders not preventing pulling the doughnut from the feeder, or not offering sufficient weather protection for the easily disintegrated doughnut.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a bird feeder that is especially useful for feeding a doughnut or the like.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a bird feeder that provides weather protection for the food.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such a bird feeder that prevents the doughnut or the like from be pulled therefrom.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a bird feeder that can be easily and economically constructed.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.